January 19, 2015 – Second Year Discussion Panel

In order to provide UBC second year civil engineering students an opportunity to acquire more knowledge on different engineering disciplines, UBC CSCE Student Chapter invited three guest speaker to our Annual Second Year Discussion Panel on January 19th, 2015. Three guest speakers were invited:: Andy Metten from Bush, Bohlman & Partners, Shelley Neil from PCL Construction and Anna Akkerman from Knight Piesold Ltd.

Our First guest speaker was Andy Metten, a senior structural engineer. Andy’s work is best reflected in large and small airport facilities where the structure is the dominant aspect of the project such as Vancouver International Airport Terminal. For the past 10 years Andy has taught a steel course for practising engineers. Andy expressed his enthusiasm and passion towards structural engineering through the presentation. At the very beginning of the presentation, Andy plotted out different choices after civil engineering clearly using a diagram. Preceding with details in structural engineering, Andy showed us several different career stages as a structural engineer. He has also explained what a typical work day for a structural engineer would look like at different career stages. To close his presentation, Andy encouraged us to deepen our knowledge and follow our dreams.

The second speaker Anna Akkerman was an alumni of UBC undergraduate program and has been working in hydrotechnical industry for five years. She is also teaching a hydrology course at BCIT. She shared with us her personal experience, which encouraged us to find our passion and enjoy the work. Also, her introduction about the hydrotechnical industry really gave us an access to the actual workplace that we will be entering.

The final presenter was Shelley Neil, a construction manager for PCL Constructors Westcoast. With over 25 years of experience, Shelley provides leadership within PCL. During her speech, she illustrated the typical career paths that construction engineers would experience. She pointed out clearly the responsibilities and tasks at each stage of the career in the construction field. Starting with a junior estimator or field engineer and then transiting into an estimator or project coordinator, the career path could eventually lead into project management.

Our second-year students were all very grateful for this opportunity and they have learnt a lot about the industry. On behalf of the UBC CSCE Student Chapter, we would like to thank these three guest speakers for sharing their valuable experience with us.